GLaDOS' Testing Track (Portal 2)

GLaDOS' Testing Track (Portal 2) is the newly built testing course featured in Portal 2, consisting of 22 test chambers. Its start, the very last test chamber from the original testing track in Portal, is connected to the Incinerator Room. The final chamber for this course would have been Test Chamber 22, which is a death trap for Chell.

This testing course was used after GLaDOS had been reactivated by accident, courtesy of Wheatley. Since her awakening, GLaDOS has been fixing not only the chambers related to the test course, but the entire Enrichment Center itself. Chell will witness the drastic changes of these chambers from being overgrown and ruined, to a more clean and perfected state.

Test Chamber 01
Starting the second chapter, The Cold Boot, it is the first chamber GLaDOS sends Chell through after her. It is actually Test Chamber 06 of GLaDOS' original testing track, but with the Thermal Discouragement Beam replacing the energy pellet. The player uses the beam to activate a Victory Lift which sends them up to the doorway.

Test Chamber 02
In this test, GLaDOS introduces the Discouragement Redirection Cubes that were built just before Chell had tried to escape in Portal. It involves redirecting lasers via the Cube and using portals. Wheatley can be seen briefly near a torn room where the Redirection Cube can be obtained.

Test Chamber 03
In the third chamber, Chell uses a Weighted Pivot Cube and portals to redirect beams to receptacles to open the chamberlock door. A Ratmann den can be found in this test chamber, along with an Aperture Science Radio that plays "Exile Vilify". Wheatley can also be briefly seen after the platform in the center raises up on a rail that runs under the floor.

Test Chamber 04
This test introduces the Rail Platform. It is similar to the Unstationary Scaffold, but the rail platform is much more limited. They are fixed to the wall and can only travel up and down or left and right along the same wall.

Test Chamber 05
Introduces the Aerial Faith Plate testing element. GLaDOS claims that they were invented to see "how well Test Subjects could solve problems whilst being catapulted into space." The results showed "they could not." (Ironically, the scenario was actually the reason for the Excursion Funnel being invented.) After the test, GLaDOS states that Chell's air supply is actually "freshened" carbon dioxide.

Test Chamber 06
This test involves more advanced use of Aerial Faith Plates. The main objective is to use the momentum of the Faith Plates to put a Weighted Storage Cube on a button on a ledge.

Before the Weighted Storage Cube can be received through the Vital Apparatus Vent, several items from Portal, from later areas or from the co-op campaign drop out, including a chair, a Defective Turret, two Edgeless Safety Cubes, a working radio, a water bottle, and a CD or disc. Unlike previous encountered radios, the radio in this chamber plays Still Alive, like the radios in Portal. Getting the radio to the Ratmann Den in the chamber causes it to play a hidden transmission, which unlocks the Final Transmission achievement.

Getting the Weighted Storage Cube onto the button without touching it will unlock the Drop Box achievement.

Test Chamber 07
This chamber features a brief reappearance of the Weighted Companion Cube. GLaDOS destroys two of them at the start; first when Chell tries to pick it up, and second when the cube is placed in the laser's path. This chamber, like Chamber 02, features Wheatley peeking in from behind a raising platform.

At the end of the chamber, the Emancipation Grill is malfunctioning. This allows Chell the opportunity to take the Companion Cube with her. (awarding the player the "Conservation of Mass" achievement.) However, doing so results in the cube being destroyed a third time. GLaDOS then contradicts her original statement from Portal about the Companion Cube being non-sentient.

Test Chamber 08
This chamber uses Emancipation Grills within the test itself. (which GLaDOS claims was to make up for the previous chamber's grid malfunctioning.) Partway through, the turbines develop a problem(s), prompting GLaDOS to step out until the next chamber. Before doing so, she gives a fast-version "explanation" of the test. (The "explanation" is actually an excerpt from Moby Dick.)

Test Chamber 09
Starts the third chapter, The Return.

The test starts with an Aerial Faith Plate launching vertically. At the top, a battered Wheatley attempts to explain how he escaped GLaDOS's chamber. The ceiling is too high for Chell to reach. GLaDOS tries to add more power to the plate, each time insulting Chell about her weight. After Chell's third launch, GLaDOS decides to lower the ceiling, and in doing so, severing communication with Wheatley. Chell then manages to use the plate and lasers to solve the test.

Test Chamber 10
In this chamber, both types of cubes are used to stop and redirect Discouragement Beams, the goal being to use Aerial Faith plates to ascend to the chamber lock. An achievement, Overclocker, is given to the player if the test is completed in 70 seconds or less.

Test Chamber 11
Introduces the Hard Light Bridge testing element.

Test Chamber 12
Another Hard Light Bridge puzzle. As Chell is about to enter the chamber, the door malfunctions and slams shut, prompting GLaDOS to leave and repair it. During this time, Wheatley appears in an observation room, claiming that he broke the door by dropping some bird eggs into the mechanism. (It is ambiguous as to whether it was accidental or deliberate.) After being attacked by a bird, he explains that he is working on an escape plan and will be breaking Chell out shortly.

Test Chamber 13
This is the first test to incorporate Aperture Science Sentry Turrets. Similar to Chamber 16 of the original testing track, they must be disabled either by picking them up and dropping them, shooting portals under them, or dropping cubes or other turrets on them. This test chamber is the only test that exits to a hallway rather than an elevator.

Test Chamber 14
Chell leaves the hallway after Chamber 13 and walks onto a catwalk to the next test, which is being built when Chell first arrives. This test introduces Laser Relays. As GLaDOS puts together the floor, she explains how she keeps Chell awake for constant testing: simulating daylight 24/7 and adrenaline vapor in the air supply. Because this causes Test Subjects to become confused about time passing, GLaDOS points out that Chell's birthday had passed. Chell is then lifted into the next chamber by a panel.

After the test, GLaDOS says she is planning a birthday present for Chell, which she claims is actually a medical experiment.

Test Chamber 15
This test demonstrates that Turrets are unable to see through Hard Light Bridges. Chell must use them to get past the Turrets throughout the chamber. There are also Aerial Faith Plates, which allows a chance for the player to earn the "Pturretdactyl" achievement. After the test, GLaDOS claims to have found a man and a woman with Chell's last name. (Probably to get Chell's hopes up that she will get to meet her parents.)

Test Chamber 16
This test is the first test which involves destroying turrets with Thermal Discouragement Beams.

It is here that GLaDOS mentions a surprise for Chell. It is revealed after the next test.

At the beginning, there is a grate guarded by a turret. Destroying it with a laser allows the player to crawl into another Ratmann den. Underneath are four turrets singing the Turret Wife Serenade with a Soprano Turret watching them. (This alluding the Turret Opera at the end of the single player campaign.)

Test Chamber 17
This chamber follows a similar format to Chamber 01, where a laser operates a rising platform. However, the platform is also operated by a 1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button, so a cube must be dropped off a Hard Light Bridge to get Chell to the exit.

Test Chamber 18
Starts the fourth chapter, The Surprise.

Before the test starts, GLaDOS reveals her surprise: an empty room with confetti. GLaDOS attempts to "cheer up" Chell that her parents never wanted to see her.

This test uses Lasers and Bridges. A turret must be destroyed with the laser, which is then used to open the exit door which is accessed with the Bridge.

After completing the test, GLaDOS "calls" Chell's parents, whose voice message "says" that they do not love Chell and asks to hang up. As Chell rides the elevator, she is greeted by Wheatley, who is working with the Nanobots. (albeit the boss, Jerry, fires him during this scene.) He explains that he has his rescue plan ready and will execute it after five more chambers. (The plan is actually executed after three chambers. This could be alluding to his surprise when he is in charge of the facility.)

Test Chamber 19
This test incorporates flinging Redirection Cubes with an Aerial Faith Plate. A laser is sent back and forth through the chamber, used to destroy the turrets guarding the exit, and opening the exit door.

Test Chamber 20
GLaDOS introduces this test chamber as the first one which is completely functional. With Discouragement Rederection Cubes and 3 Thermal Discouragement Beams, Chell needs to make all of the beams active to open the door.

Escaping (Part 1 - Test Chamber 21)
Involves Hard Light Bridges. Midway through the test, Wheatley turns off the lights and reveals himself. He tries talking in a bad American accent, thinking it is beyond GLaDOS' range of hearing, but realizes that is false and just breaks out of the chamber with Chell.

If you use a cheat code to spawn a sphere (a testing element cut out of the single player game) or cube on the button, the door will open, but the lights won't go out. Then use the bridge to go through the door, and then you'll find yourself in a pitch black room.

Additionally, if the player does NOT escape with Wheatley immediately, GLaDOS activates neurotoxin emitters in this chamber in an attempt to kill you. The neurotoxin is out of range as soon as the player leaves the chamber, however, since it closes itself.

As Wheatley and Chell make their way across the catwalks, Wheatley reveals the next part of his escape plan. They will take out the turret and neurotoxin production plants, then make their way back to GLaDOS's chamber and confront her a second time.

Escaping (Part 2 - Test Chamber 22)
As Wheatley leads Chell away from the test area, GLaDOS claims that Chell had escaped just before she reached the final test. A wall opens, revealing the "Test Chamber," which GLaDOS says "is an easier way out that whatever asinine plan your friend came up with."

If the player enters this Test Chamber, they will realize it was a death trap, as the wall closes behind them while the room fills with neurotoxin, which will kill the player within 5 seconds of entering the "chamber". There is another door on the adjacent side of the entrance with plants visible through it, but the door shuts itself when the player gets close to it, due to GLaDOS fizzling the Weighted Companion Cube on the button that keeps the door open. There is no way to escape from the "chamber" except by reloading from the last save point. There is also a series of white panels making a heart shape on the wall.

Whether this trap was actually Test Chamber 22 is left ambiguous as GLaDOS drops several hints that Chell will have to test for the next 60 years before she dies. On the other hand, she implies she was going to kill Chell after she completed Test Chamber 21 and had apparently finished building ATLAS and P-body to replace Chell by then, so it's possible this was Test Chamber 22, or at least had the same function.

Going into this chamber unlocks the achievement "Good Listener".

After breaking out of GLaDOS' Test Shaft
After Chell escapes, she and Wheatley run off into the maintenance areas. During this time, Wheatley reveals his plan to disable the turret manufacturing and the neurotoxin generator before finally confronting GLaDOS.